Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM
Canon's f/2 standard zoom for RF.
Canon EOS R5 Mark II Review
A 45 MP full-frame stacked sensor, 8K 60p RAW recorded internally, up to 30 fps with the electronic shutter, and Eye Control AF.
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Professional Flagship
Check price at Calumet → The Verdict
A 45 MP full-frame back-illuminated stacked sensor (8192 x 5464), 8K 60p RAW recorded internally, and up to 30 fps with the electronic shutter, held for 93 RAW frames to a CFexpress card. Eye Control AF moves the AF point to where you look in the viewfinder.
Owners upgrading from the original R5 or older bodies describe the autofocus and eye tracking as a clear step up, and owners single out pre-capture. Complaints that come up repeatedly are high-ISO noise, short battery life and heat in long video recordings (see What owners report).
- Overall
- 9.4/10
- Image quality
- 9.3
- Autofocus
- 9.5
- Video
- 9.7
- Speed
- 9.3
- Handling and build
- 9.2
| Imaging | |
|---|---|
| Sensor | 45MP Full-Frame Back-Illuminated Stacked CMOS |
| Processor | DIGIC X + DIGIC Accelerator |
| Stabilization | 5-Axis IBIS (8.5 stops Coordinated Control) |
| ISO Range | 100-51,200 (exp. 50-102,400) |
| Autofocus | |
| AF Points | 1,053 Zones (Dual Pixel Intelligent AF) |
| AF System | Eye Control AF + Action Priority (Sports) |
| Burst Speed | 30 fps (Electronic), 12 fps (Mechanical) |
| Video | |
| Max Resolution | 8K 60p RAW / 4K 120p / 4K 60p (SRAW) |
| Internal Rec | 12-bit RAW (Light), 10-bit 4:2:2 XF-HEVC S / XF-AVC S |
| Profiles | Canon Log 2, Canon Log 3, HLG, PQ |
| Video Features | Pre-recording, Tally Lamp, Waveform Monitor |
| Build & Connectivity | |
| Viewfinder | 5.76M-dot OLED EVF (0.76x, 120fps blackout-free) |
| Screen | 3.2" Vari-angle Touch (2.1M-dot) |
| Card Slots | CFexpress Type B + SD UHS-II |
| Ports | Full HDMI, USB-C (PD), Mic, Headphone |
| Weather Sealing | Dust and weather resistant |
| Weight | 746g (with battery and card) |
Maker-published figures, with source and date: Numbers & Sources below.
What We Like
- 45MP back-illuminated stacked full-frame sensor
- 8K 60p Cinema RAW LT internal
- Eye Control AF
- 8.5 stops IBIS with compatible lenses
- Autofocus and pre-capture praised by owners (see What owners report)
Trade-offs
- Heat-limited recording: about 45 min of 4K 60p with the camera alone (Canon)
- High-ISO noise and battery life are recurring owner complaints (see What owners report)
- Eye Control needs calibration
In-Depth Performance
Image Quality & Sensor Performance
The sensor is a 45-megapixel back-illuminated stacked full-frame CMOS with 8192 x 5464 pixels. For CineD's readout and dynamic range measurements, see What independent testers measured; for photos other people took with it, see Sample photos.
High-ISO noise is a recurring owner complaint, compared with the original R5 or the 5D Mark IV (see What owners report).
Autofocus & Burst
With Eye Control AF, the camera moves the AF point to where you look in the viewfinder; it has to be calibrated first. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF II system has 1,053 AF zones covering 100% of the frame horizontally and vertically.
Subject detection covers people (face/eye/body), animals (dogs, cats, birds, horses) and vehicles (motorsports, aircraft, trains), and the AF works down to -6.5 EV with an f/1.2 lens. Owners upgrading from the original R5 or older bodies describe the autofocus and eye tracking as a clear step up (see What owners report).
Canon quotes up to 30 fps with the electronic shutter, held for 200 JPEG or 93 RAW frames to CFexpress (86 RAW to SD), and about 12 fps with the mechanical shutter. Owners single out pre-capture, and report little visible rolling shutter in electronic-shutter bursts (see What owners report).
Video Capabilities
Internal 8K 60p RAW recording uses the full sensor width, and 4K 120p is available without a crop. Cinema RAW Light and Canon Log 3 are available. CineD measured 10.8 stops of dynamic range in 8K Canon RAW and 13.3 stops in 4K Fine XF-AVC (SNR = 2), around 8 stops of exposure latitude in 8K RAW, and a 17.3 ms rolling shutter in 8K DCI (see What independent testers measured).
With the camera alone and the auto power-off temperature at Standard, Canon quotes about 26 minutes of 8K 30p and about 45 minutes of 4K 60p; set to High, about 37 minutes and more than 120 minutes. Some owners report heat in long video recordings, and some hybrid shooters say the video side falls short in places, such as no open-gate recording (see What owners report). Focus breathing compensation works with supported RF lenses, and the full-size HDMI port supports external RAW recording.
Handling & Build
The viewfinder is a 5.76M-dot OLED at 0.76x, and the rear screen a 3.2-inch vari-angle touchscreen with 2.1M dots. Owners moving from DSLRs say there is a lot to learn before the camera is set up the way they want (see What owners report).
The body is magnesium alloy and dust and weather resistant. Canon rates the LP-E6P at about 630 shots on the screen and 340 through the viewfinder (CIPA, power-saving mode, 23 °C); owners describe battery life as short, and one says you need the battery grip (see What owners report). There are two card slots, one CFexpress Type B and one SD UHS-II, and the USB-C port supports Power Delivery.
Sample photos from other photographers
Photos that other people took with the Canon R5 II and published on Wikimedia Commons under free licences. We chose them; we did not take them. The settings under each photo come from the file's own metadata.
The numbers, and where they come from
Published by the maker
| Sensor size (maker's figure) | 36 x 24 mm |
|---|---|
| Effective pixels | 45 MP |
| Pixel dimensions (3:2) | 8,192 x 5,464 |
| Native ISO range | ISO 100–51,200 |
| Continuous shooting | 30 fps (electronic shutter) |
| Buffer (RAW) | 93 frames (RAW at 30 fps, to CFexpress) |
| Battery (CIPA) | 630 shots |
| Weight with battery and card | 746 g |
| Viewfinder resolution | 5.76 million dots |
Maker figures checked on 25 Sept 2026 — maker's spec sheet. Continuous shooting, in the maker's words: Max. Approx. 12 fps. with Mechanical shutter/1st curtain electronic ... or 30 FPS with electronic shutter speed maintained for 200 JPEG or 93/86(CFexpress/SD card) RAW images
Computed from those figures
| Pixel pitch | 4.39 µm |
|---|---|
| Sensor area | 864 mm² |
| Format factor | 1x |
| Light gathered vs 35mm | the same |
| Print at 300 dpi | 69 cm |
| Diffraction limit | f/6.5 |
Computed from the figures above. Pixel pitch = sensor width / pixel count across. Light gathered = log2 of the area ratio to 36 x 24 mm. Diffraction limit = the aperture at which the Airy disc diameter (2.44 x lambda x N, lambda = 550 nm) reaches two pixel pitches. Other calculators use other thresholds and so quote other numbers.
What independent testers measured
These figures were measured by the outlets named in the last column, not by us. Each one links to the test it comes from, and the conditions it was measured under are listed beside it.
| Measurement | Result | Conditions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling shutter (sensor readout time) | 17.3 ms | 8K DCI (17:9) | CineD, checked 23 Oct 2026 |
| Video dynamic range (Imatest, SNR = 2) | 10.8 stops | 8K internal 12-bit Canon RAW (CRAW), ISO 800, developed to CLog 2 | CineD, checked 23 Oct 2026 |
| Video dynamic range (Imatest, SNR = 2) | 13.3 stops | 4K Fine XF-AVC 25p, ISO 800, CLog 2 | CineD, checked 23 Oct 2026 |
| Exposure latitude | 8 stops | 8K Canon RAW (CRAW) developed in DaVinci Resolve, over- and underexposed, pushed back to base | CineD, checked 23 Oct 2026 |
What owners report
We read 190 public posts and reviews on 23 Oct 2026: reddit.com/r/canon (82), bhphotovideo.com (108). Each point below came up from at least two different people; the wording is ours.
Praised repeatedly
- Owners upgrading from the original R5 or older bodies describe the autofocus and eye tracking as a clear step up. [1][2][3][4]
- Owners single out pre-capture (pre-shooting); one upgraded from the R5 mainly for it. [1][2][3]
- Owners report little visible rolling shutter when shooting bursts with the electronic shutter. [1][2]
Complained about repeatedly
- High-ISO noise is a recurring complaint, compared with the original R5 or the 5D Mark IV. [1][2][3]
- Battery life comes up as short; one owner says you need the battery grip. [1][2][3]
- Some owners report heat in long video recordings; one now uses the cooling grip. [1][2][3]
- Some hybrid shooters say the video side falls short in places, such as no open-gate recording. [1][2][3]
- Owners moving from DSLRs say there is a lot to learn before the camera is set up the way they want. [1][2][3]
These are public posts. We do not check whether the people who wrote them bought or used this camera.
How this score is put together
9.4 out of 10
- Image quality Weight 25% 9.3
45MP stacked sensor at 8192 x 5464, 4.39 µm pitch
- Autofocus Weight 20% 9.5
1053-zone Dual Pixel II, full-frame coverage
- Video Weight 20% 9.7
8K60 internal RAW
- Speed Weight 15% 9.3
30 fps electronic
- Handling and build Weight 20% 9.2
8.5-stop IBIS, CFexpress B plus SD
Scored against full-frame interchangeable-lens cameras. The overall figure is the weighted mean of the rows above — it is computed, not set by hand.
How It Compares
| Spec | Canon R5 II | Sony A7R V | Nikon Z8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor | 45MP FF Stacked | 61MP BSI | 45.7MP FF Stacked |
| Video | 8K60 RAW | 8K24 / 4K60 (1.24x crop) | 8K60 N-RAW |
| AF Points | 1053 zones | 693 points | 493 points |
| Burst | 30 fps | 10 fps (7 fps raw) | 20 fps |
| IBIS | 8.5 stops | 8 stops | 5.5 stops |
| Buy | Check price at Calumet | Check price at Amazon | Check price at Amazon |
Lens options
Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Canon's stabilized f/2.8 telephoto zoom for RF.
Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM
Canon's f/1.2 standard prime for RF.
Affiliate Disclosure
We buy our own gear or rent it. No manufacturers paid for this review. We earn a commission if you use our links, which keeps this site ad-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both have a stacked full-frame sensor (45 MP Canon, 45.7 MP Nikon) and record 8K 60p RAW internally (Canon RAW, Nikon N-RAW). Both pair a CFexpress Type B slot with an SD slot (the Z8's first slot also takes XQD) and have a full-size HDMI port. The R5 II's viewfinder has 5.76M dots, the Z8's 3.69M.
With the camera alone and the auto power-off temperature at Standard, Canon quotes about 26 minutes of 8K 30p, 45 minutes of 4K 60p and 18 minutes of 8K 60p RAW (Light, with a 2K proxy). With the separately sold CF-R20EP cooling fan grip at high speed (the fan only runs on LP-E6P batteries), 8K 30p lasts about 106 minutes and 4K 60p has no heat limit. Set to High, the camera alone manages about 37 minutes of 8K 30p; Canon then recommends a tripod. Some owners report heat in long video recordings, and one now uses the cooling grip (see What owners report).
The camera moves the AF point to where you look in the viewfinder. It has to be calibrated to your eye before you use it.
Owners upgrading from the original R5 describe the autofocus and eye tracking as a clear step up, and one upgraded mainly for pre-capture. High-ISO noise compared with the original R5 is a recurring complaint (see What owners report). The R5 II's sensor is a back-illuminated stacked CMOS; CineD measured a 17.3 ms rolling shutter in 8K DCI (see What independent testers measured).
It records 8K 60p RAW internally in the Cinema RAW LT format, and 4K 120p without a crop. CineD measured 10.8 stops of dynamic range in 8K Canon RAW and 13.3 stops in 4K Fine XF-AVC (SNR = 2), and a 17.3 ms rolling shutter in 8K DCI (see What independent testers measured). Some hybrid shooters say the video side falls short in places, such as no open-gate recording (see What owners report).
Recommended Accessories
Essential gear to maximize your Canon EOS R5 Mark II experience:
Memory Card
Lexar CFexpress Type B 512GB
A CFexpress Type B card for the R5 II's CFexpress slot.
Pro Zoom
Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Canon's f/2.8 standard zoom with optical image stabilisation.
Extra Battery
Canon LP-E6P
The battery Canon supplies and recommends. The older LP-E6NH fits, but Canon then disables pre-continuous shooting and HDMI RAW and limits video modes.
Vertical Grip
Canon BG-R10
Canon's battery grip: holds two batteries and adds vertical controls.
More gear guides: Best TripodsBest Camera BagsBest SD Cards
